No-one knows better than Jim Telfer what a fine line exists between success and failure at Test level, and yesterday he drew upon his own extensive experience in attempting to revive belief that Scotland can yet succeed in Australia.

He was in top form as he looked back to the famous scrummaging session which has been credited with turning round the British Lions tour of South Africa a year ago, noting that it may have been given an undeserved place in the scheme of things.

Undeserved? For those with not too strong memories, Telfer had been so disappointed with the Lions' early scrummaging efforts in South Africa, he put them through sheer purgatory, asking them time and again at training to take on a two and a half ton scrummaging machine which had a thrust of 600 kilograms against the muscle and bone of eight men.

Telfer had been sweetness and light until he saw the scrum struggling in the opening matches. That changed rapidly.

''Actually after that session, we were beaten by Northern Transvaal,'' he laughed yesterday. ''The thing that really got the Lions started off was the win on the Wednesday night against the Gauteng Lions.

''If we'd been beaten in that match, everything would have gone. I wouldn't have been here for a start. I would have been in a seminary or something.''

The monastic life's loss remains rugby's gain and the guru is confident that this group of disciples can be inspired to bring the tour fresh hope.

''One thing we did for that game against Gauteng with the Lions was to pick youngsters in the Wednesday team. Well we've done that for the Saturday team here. We've given a chance to the youngsters, and I think they will respond.

''This is an opportunity for these guys to stake a claim. Although we picked what we obviously thought was our best Test team for Fiji, there's an opportunity for anybody to come through.''

Telfer noted that no-one knows better than himself and his backs coach on this trip, John Rutherford, just how quickly a tour can be transformed if players approach things properly.

''It was the same in John's time (as a player) 16 years ago,'' he said referring to the 1982 visit to Australia when, under Telfer, Scotland won their first ever Test match on tour. ''We had been thumped by Sydney, then played New South Wales, who had practically the same team, and we won.

''We went on to win the first Test. We scraped through. It was not a case of winning with flamboyant play, but we won. I don't know what's going to happen here, but I can tell you the players are very, very positive.''

Telfer was anxious not to give the impression that he was constantly harking back to past glories, rather that he was indulging in looking back to the future.

Although acknowledging that strong things had been said to the players, despite a public defence of the performance in Fiji, the man regarded as the hardest of taskmasters is continuing to use encouragement, rather than criticism, to stimulate his players.

''We had a short meeting with the squad before the function after the match when Arthur Hastie and I spoke to them and let our feelings be known on what we thought about their performance,'' he said. ''We then came to Victoria yesterday and had a joint meeting with the rest of the squad once everyone was back in the fold.

''What I said to them this morning was indicative of what I'd said to teams in the past, that we are cruelly exposed in the southern hemisphere because we need to be clinically accurate and precise about what we're doing against teams like Fiji. Probably in the Northern Hemisphere the only team is France who, if you make a mistake, will capitalise that way and you lose seven points.''

The coach stressed that he is taking a positive line and, more to the point, has been hugely impressed by the way the players, particularly the newcomers to the squad, have responded.

''They're very keen to improve and last night's session was as good as I've ever had with them,'' he said. ''Their encouragement to each other and the level of commitment was fantastic. The young players would have trained all night if I had wanted them to.''

Curiously enough, he didn't take them up on that, which is a further indication that perhaps he has mellowed a little with the passing years, and to be fair, he is giving full credit where due to this squad.

Whether or not their attitude will be enough to transform the perception of them in Australia remains to be seen, and despite all that has been said about him, when considering the prospects for a hard four weeks ahead, Telfer neither regards himself as a magician or a soothsayer.

''I don't think one training session in itself makes a difference, but the game on Saturday will refresh the enthusiasm,'' he said.

''Hopefully that session will help do the trick, though. There are certain things that can turn tours. You can have a very bad beginning and a very good ending, you just don't know what the script's going to be. If you did you'd be a prophet.''